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Police Take Home Pay

Police staff · PCSOs · England & Wales

Police Staff Pay Rise 2026/27

No pay offer yet · checked 19 October 2026

Police officers got a 3.5% rise from 1 September 2026, but police staff are not included. Your pay rise is negotiated separately by the Police Staff Council. The unions have claimed 9% or £2,700, whichever is greater; the employers have not made an offer, and the talks postponed in September are expected to resume in the second half of October.

Where the 2026/27 talks are

  1. 7 May 2026 — Unions (UNISON, GMB, Unite) submit the 2026 pay claim: 9% or £2,700, whichever is greater
  2. 19 August 2026 — First Police Staff Council pay talks: initial exchange of views, adjourned
  3. 10 September 2026 — Next round of talks postponed, to be rescheduled
  4. 9 October 2026 — GMB: no substantive update; talks hoped to resume the week of 19 October
  5. Next — Employers make a pay offer
  6. Then — Each union consults its members on the offer (about 3 weeks last year)
  7. Then — Police Staff Council agrees the award; forces pay it with back pay to 1 September

What a rise would add to your take-home

Full time is 37 hours.

Pay rise to model

No offer has been made for 2026/27 yet. These are scenarios, not a forecast.

4.2%
Pension scheme

Now (2025/26 spine)

Monthly take-home

£2,354

Full-time salary

£37,020

With a 4.2% rise

Monthly take-home

£2,441

Full-time salary

£38,577

+£87 per month

+£1,040 per year after tax, NI and pension

If backdated to 1 September 2026 like last year, every month of delay adds about £130 of back pay before tax.

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When will the police staff pay rise be paid?

Not until the award is agreed. Three steps are left: the employers make an offer, each union consults its members, then the Police Staff Council formally agrees the award and publishes the new pay spine in a joint circular. Forces then pay it in the next payroll they can.

Last year the offer came on 6 October 2025, the award was agreed on 30 October 2025, and forces paid it in November or December with back pay to 1 September. This year no offer had been made by 19 October 2026, so the rise and the back pay are likely to land later than last year.

PSC pay spine (current)

Full-time annual salaries on the national Police Staff Council spine. The 1 September 2025 column is what you are paid now; it will be replaced by the 2026/27 figures once agreed. Your force decides which pay points your grade covers.

SCPFrom 1 Sep 2024From 1 Sep 2025
9£23,748£24,747
10£24,222£25,242
11£24,675£25,713
12£25,140£26,196
13£25,626£26,703
14£26,106£27,204
15£26,937£28,071
16£27,747£28,914
17£28,653£29,859
18£29,109£30,333
19£29,649£30,897
20£30,468£31,749
21£31,296£32,613
22£32,247£33,603
23£33,264£34,662
24£34,329£35,772
25£35,526£37,020
26£36,630£38,169
27£37,692£39,276
28£38,754£40,383
29£39,813£41,487
30£40,893£42,612
31£41,907£43,668
32£42,897£44,700
33£43,920£45,765
34£45,147£47,046
35£46,503£48,459
36£47,712£49,716
37£48,894£50,949
38£50,088£52,194
39£51,294£53,451
40£52,491£54,696
41£53,688£55,944
42£54,879£57,186
43£56,073£58,431
44£57,258£59,664
45£58,455£60,912

Allowances from 1 September 2025: standby £37.65 per session, overnight away from home £60, essential car user £1,239 a year. Source: PSC Joint Circular 142, 3 November 2025.

Related

Frequently asked questions

Do police staff get the 3.5% police pay rise?

No. The 3.5% award from 1 September 2026 applies to police officers only. Police staff, including PCSOs, are paid on the Police Staff Council (PSC) pay spine, and their pay rise is negotiated separately between the employers (NPCC, APCC and the Home Office) and the unions UNISON, GMB and Unite. As of 19 October 2026, no 2026/27 offer has been made.

How much is the 2026 police staff pay rise?

It has not been agreed yet. The unions have claimed 9% or £2,700 on every pay point, whichever is greater, plus a £15 an hour minimum. The employers have not made an offer. For comparison, the 2025/26 award was 4.2% on all pay points.

When will the police staff pay rise be paid?

Only once an offer is made, accepted by the unions' members and agreed by the Police Staff Council. Last year that took from 6 October 2025 (offer) to 30 October 2025 (agreement), and forces paid it in their November or December payroll, with back pay to 1 September. This year the talks are running later, so payment is likely to be later too. The settlement date is still 1 September 2026, so back pay is expected to cover the months since then.

Will police staff get back pay?

Every recent PSC award has been backdated to the 1 September settlement date, and the employers have said they aimed to agree this one in time for 1 September 2026. Back pay is paid as a lump sum and is taxed, NI-rated and pensionable in the month it is paid, so the amount you receive is lower than the gross figure.

Does the PSC pay award cover PCSOs?

Yes. PCSOs are police staff, so their pay rise comes from the Police Staff Council award, not the officers' award. Each force decides which pay points a PCSO post sits on, which is why PCSO salaries differ between forces.

Does it cover Met, Police Scotland and PSNI staff?

No. Metropolitan Police staff, Police Scotland (Scottish Police Authority) staff and PSNI staff have their own pay arrangements and negotiate separately. In 2025/26 Met staff received 4.2% backdated to 1 August 2025 plus a one-off £900 payment, after a dispute settled in January 2026.

Sources (checked 19 October 2026)